Remembrance of glorious things past
nKOLKATA: Bored of board games? Done watching ‘The Test’ because by now you can lip sync Justin Langer’s lines? Tried ‘The English Game’ but that was a googly because it told the tale of professional football? Looking for your daily fix of that drug called cricket in the time of what should have been the Indian Premier League (IPL) can be difficult business.
For sports fiends, between seasons is when the sun is the same in a similar way though the days seem longer. But since you know when those breaks will end, you grit it through. That’s the difference between then and COVID-19 which has forced you to go cold turkey on, among a host of other things, live action.
The next best option? Remembrance of things past. Through two-hour capsules from 10am on Tuesday to April 14, DD Sports will help you plough through some ODIS from 2000-03 and 2005.
And that 2001 Eden Test where between Harbhajan Singh turning from a hattrick-taker to a ‘Turbanator’, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid made Australia bow with their bats.
Three games of the TVS Cup, played between India, Australia and New Zealand, will be shown on each of the first three days. That means revisiting a Sachin Tendulkar-laxman show in Gwalior; seeing Nathan Bracken— remember the Australian leftarm quick whose mop of hair was as dishevelled as his line disciplined— in red-hot form; Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist’s masterclass in Bengaluru that took Australia to 347/2 in 50 overs against India; a Tendulkar-sehwag show that got India past 350 against New Zealand and that lowscoring final in Kolkata.
The next three days will take you back to the Indiasouth Africa series of 2000 and Australia’s visit in 2001. To when Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh’s fightback helped overhaul a target of 301 and Virender Sehwag exploded in the middle-order because the joint-venture of Sourav Ganguly and Tendulkar had hit pay dirt. Tendulkar’s 125-ball 139 against Australia can be seen on Saturday.
The last three days will have the Eden Test sandwiched between ODIS against West Indies in 2002 and one against Sri Lanka in 2005. Crowd trouble in Rajkot is glossed over but Ajit Agarkar pinch-hitting 95 in Jamshedpur is not. Revisit Chris Gayle’s 140 and Ramnaresh Sarwan’s 99 and how Laxman, Dravid and Sanjay Bangar showed it wouldn’t be enough. Just as India’s 290/8 wouldn’t because though Gayle was sedate by his standards, Wavell Hinds played a blinder.
On the last day, MS Dhoni’s 183 that made light of Kumar Sangakkara’s ton and his 151run stand with Mahela Jayawardene can be seen in its full glory. Full glory, literally, because the whole match will be shown.